Conventionally available is a switch unit for detecting movement of a target object in two mutually orthogonal directions. The switch unit is used to detect, e.g., the movement (or position) of a shift lever in a motor vehicle. The switch unit of this type is disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H9-196153.
The shift lever for a motor vehicle is moved along first, second and third shift routes L1, L2 and L3 as illustrated in FIG. 17. The first shift route L1 is used in an automatic mode (AT mode) having “P”, “R”, “N” and “D” ranges. The second shift route L2 is connected to the “D” range. The second shift route L2 is formed into a rectilinear shape to extend in a direction orthogonal to the first shift route L1 and is used in switching an automatic shift mode and a manual shift mode (MT mode), which is called a mode switching operation.
The third shift route L3 is provided with a “+” range at one end thereof, an “S” range connected to the second shift route L2 and a “−” range at the other end thereof. The third shift route L3 is formed into a rectilinear shape to extend in a direction substantially perpendicular to the second shift route L2.
If the shift lever is moved along the second shift route L2 from the “D” range of the first shift route L1 to the “S” range of the third shift route L3, the AT mode is switched to the MT mode. Up-shift is performed by moving the shift lever along the third shift route L3 from the “S” range to the “+” range (by shifting the shift lever upwards). Down-shift is carried out by moving the shift lever from the “S” range to the “−” range (by shifting the shift lever downwards). If an external force is removed from the shift lever after the up-shift or the down-shift, the shift lever is automatically returned back to the “S” range (the neutral position).
As shown in FIG. 18, the switch unit includes a first switch SW1 for detecting the movement of the shift lever between the “S” range and the “D” range and second and third switches SW2 and SW3 for detecting the movement of the shift lever from the “S” range to the “+” range and the “−” range.
In other words, the switch unit includes three switches, i.e., the first, second and third switches SW1, SW2 and SW3. The switches SW1, SW2 and SW3 are stored within three cases 101, 102 and 103, one switch in each case. The cases 101, 102 and 103 are accommodated in a housing H.
As can be seen in FIG. 19, a terminal unit 104 is arranged within the housing H of the switch unit. The terminal unit 104 includes three terminals 104a. Lead wires (not shown) drawn out from the three switches SW1, SW2 and SW3 are connected to the terminals 104a by soldering or other bonding methods.
The conventional switch unit stated above is provided with the switches SW1, SW2 and SW3 for detecting three kinds of operations, namely the mode switching operation, the up-shift operation and the down-shift operation. This poses a problem in that the number of parts becomes greater and the size of the switch unit grows bigger.
Moreover, the three switches SW1, SW2 and SW3 are stored within the individual cases 101, 102 and 103 which in turn are accommodated in the housing H. This leads to a problem in that the size of the housing H becomes larger.
In addition, the lead wires need to be connected to the respective switches SW1, SW2 and SW3 and also need to be soldered to the respective terminals 104a of the terminal unit 104 arranged in the housing H. This also poses a problem in that the number of parts gets increased.